1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to telephone network directory assistance services and more particularly to providing, to a telephone network user who has a non-published telephone number, information about who has attempted to obtain their telephone number via directory assistance.
2. Background of the Invention
Because of the desire for privacy, many telephone company customers choose not to have their telephone numbers published in a printed or on-line telephone directory. These customers also often request that their telephone numbers not be made available via a telephone network directory assistance service (often accessible in the United States by dialing 411) provided by the telephone company. Accordingly, such customers, generally known as xe2x80x9cnon-published customers,xe2x80x9d have prohibited the dissemination of their telephone numbers by the telephone networks, such that only the non-published customers can provide those telephone numbers.
While the privacy features of non-published numbers have certain advantages, non-published customers may be unwittingly missing important or desirable telephone calls. For example, a non-published customer might not receive desirable telemarketing calls, or personal calls from friends or relatives who do not know the non-published customer""s telephone number. Thus, a non-published customer may fail to receive all of the telephone calls that he/she may actually want to receive.
The present invention provides an improvement to telephone networks and more specifically to the service provided to non-published customers of the telephone network. The present invention provides a method and system for providing information to a non-published customer about the caller who has requested directory assistance for the non-published number.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when a caller dials directory assistance and asks for the telephone number of a non-published customer, the call is forwarded to a Service Node (SN) in the telephone network. The SN preferably has a Service Package Application (SPA) that answers the call and attempts to automatically gather the caller""s telephone number and, if possible, the caller""s name via a lookup table. The SPA then plays an announcement to the caller similar to a conventional announcement that is played when a telephone number is unavailable because it is non-published. In an alternative embodiment, particularly useful if the caller""s telephone number cannot be easily obtained, the caller is asked to record his/her name and telephone number and the SPA stores this information for playback.
After the caller hangs up, and if the SPA was able to obtain at least the caller""s telephone number, the SN places a notification call to the non-published customer and plays an announcement informing the non-published customer of the telephone number of the caller who had requested directory assistance. If the SPA was able also to identify the name of the caller, that information would also be read to the non-published customer using text-to-speech techniques. If the caller had recorded his/her identification information then that information is played back to the non-published customer. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the non-published customer can learn who has been trying to contact him/her and decide whether to call the caller back.
Further in accordance with the present invention, the SN preferably asks the non-published customer whether to release their telephone number to the caller. If the non-published customer gives the proper authorization, the SN places a call to the caller""s telephone number and provides the originally-requested information, namely the non-published customer""s telephone number.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the SN itself gives the non-published customer the opportunity to immediately call the caller back, thereby eliminating the need for the non-published customer to hang up and place a new call, assuming the non-published customer desires to immediately contact the caller.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the SN does not wait for the caller to hang up before calling the non-published subscriber, but instead notifies the caller that the number he/she is seeking is non-published and to hold while the non-published customer is called and a request is made of the non-published customer, based on the caller""s telephone number (and possibly the caller""s name as well), to release the non-published telephone number or immediately connect the call. This particular embodiment provides a valuable real-time telephone call screening method.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of providing information to a non-published customer about a caller requesting the non-published customer""s telephone number from directory assistance.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide, to a non-published customer, at least the telephone number and preferably also the name of the caller requesting directory assistance for the non-published customer""s telephone number.
It is also an object of the present invention to give a non-published customer the opportunity to authorize the release of his/her telephone number to a caller who has called directory assistance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a callback function to a caller attempting to obtain a telephone number of a non-published customer and provide the requested telephone number.
It still another object of the present invention to (i) automatically contact a non-published customer upon receiving a directory assistance request from a caller for the non-published customer""s telephone number, (ii) provide the caller""s telephone number, and preferably also the caller""s name, to the non-published customer and (iii) obtain consent to set up a telephone connection between the caller and the non-published customer.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide information to a non-published customer indicative of the number of times the non-published customer""s telephone number has been requested from directory assistance.